Billy Bevan
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Billy Bevan (born William Bevan Harris, 29 September 1887 – 26 November 1957) was an Australian-born vaudevillian, who became an American film actor. He appeared in 254 American films between 1916 and 1950.
Bevan was born in the country town of Orange, New South Wales, Australia. He went on the stage at an early age, traveled to Sydney and spent eight years in Australian light opera, performing as Willie Bevan. He sailed to America with the Pollard’s Lilliputian Opera Company in 1912 and later toured Canada. Bevan broke into films with the Sigmund Lubin studio in 1916. When the company disbanded, Bevan became a supporting actor in Mack Sennett movie comedies. An expressive pantomimist, Bevan's quiet scene-stealing attracted attention, and by 1922 Bevan was a Sennett star. He supplemented his income, however, by establishing a citrus and avocado farm at Escondido, California.
Usually filmed wearing a derby hat and a drooping mustache, Bevan may not have possessed an indelible screen character like Charlie Chaplin but he had a friendly, funny presence in the frantic Sennett comedies. Much of the comedy depended on Bevan's skilled timing and reactions; the famous "oyster" routine performed on film by Curly Howard, Lou Costello, and Huntz Hall—in which a bowl of "fresh oyster stew" shows alarming signs of life and battles the guy trying to eat it—was originated on film decades earlier by Bevan in the short film Wandering Willies.
By the mid-1920s Bevan was often teamed with Andy Clyde; Clyde soon graduated to his own starring series. The late 1920s found Bevan playing in wild marital farces for Sennett.
The advent of talking pictures took their toll on the careers of many silent stars, including Billy Bevan. Bevan began a second career in "talkies" as a character actor and bit player in roles such as that of a bus driver in the 1929 film High Voltage, a hotel employee in the Mae Murray film Peacock Alley, and the supporting role of Second Lieutenant Trotter in Journey's End in 1930. His starring roles had come to an end, however, and for the next 20 years he often would play rowdy Cockneys (as in Pack Up Your Troubles with The Ritz Brothers), and affable Englishmen (as in Tin Pan Alley and Terror by Night). He played a friendly bus conductor opposite Greer Garson in one of the opening scenes of Mrs. Miniver.
Bevan died in 1957 in Escondido, California, just before new audiences discovered him in Robert Youngson's silent-comedy compilations. (The Youngson films mispronounce his name as "Be-VAN"; Bevan himself offered the proper pronunciation in a Voice of Hollywood reel in 1930.)
Known for
The Iron Nag
Joe Gobb
The Best Man
Best Man
Jane Eyre
Bookie (uncredited)
The Secret Garden
Barney
The Earl of Chicago
Castle Guide
Shadows Over Shanghai
Gallicuddy
The Young in Heart
Kennel Man (uncredited)
The Girl from Nowhere
Constable Billy Barnes
When Summer Comes
Lyons - the Tenderfoot
Journey's End
Trotter
For the Love o' Lil
Edward O. Walker
The Silent Witness
Horace Ward
Let Freedom Ring
Cockney (uncredited)
The Bull Fighter
Pete De Tour
Should Sleepwalkers Marry?
Charley Carter
The Slappiest Days of Our Lives
(archive footage)
Dracula's Daughter
Albert
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Malvolio Jones
Suspicion
Ticket Taker (uncredited)
Little Robinson Corkscrew
The Sheriff
Bright Eyes
The Nosey Butler
Hubby’s Quiet Little Game
Billy Foote
The Sky Hawk
Tom Berry
Sky Devils
Colonel
The Return of the Vampire
Horace (uncredited)
Rebecca
Policeman (uncredited)
Super-Hooper-Dyne Lizzies
Hiram Case
The Long Voyage Home
Joe
On Patrol
The Amateur Cop
Counter-Espionage
George Barrow
Personal Property
Frank (uncredited)
Happy Times and Jolly Moments
(archive footage)
Luxury Liner
Schultz
Born to Love
Departing British Soldier (uncredited)
Over Thereabouts
Joe Dobell
Cured in the Excitement
Professor Brawn
Waterloo Bridge
Soldier on the Make (uncredited)
Hoboken to Hollywood
Billy Judkins
Butter Fingers
Nick
Cavalcade
George Grainger
Three Foolish Weeks
King of Anchovia
She Whoops To Conquer
The Lion's Whiskers
Otto Klutch
Private Number
Frederick
Moss Rose
Harry, Cab Driver (uncredited)
The Lodger
Riley the Cop
Paris Cabman
Don't Get Jealous
Billy Blake
Too Much Harmony
Stage Director
Bringing Up Baby
Joe (uncredited)
The Lost Patrol
Hale
The Girl from Everywhere
Messenger
The Swordsman
Old Andrew
30 Years of Fun
(archive footage)
A Sea Dog's Tale
Wilbur Watts
Fortunes of Captain Blood
Billy Bragg
Gymnasium Jim
Jim
Galloping Bungalows
John Syrup Soother
Whispering Whiskers
The Drifter
Monte Carlo
Train Conductor (uncredited)
Vanity Fair
Joseph Sedley
High Voltage
Gus Jones
Lizzies of the Field
Bud Gasket
The Black Arrow
Dungeon Keeper
Terror by Night
Conductor Taking Tickets
Champagne Charlie
Mr. Boswick
A Christmas Carol
Street Watch Leader
Pitfalls of a Big City
Barfly (uncredited)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Mr. Weller
Honeymoon Hardships
Farmer
National Velvet
Constable (uncredited)
East of the Water Plug
The Sheriff
Transatlantic
Hodgkins
Around the Town: British Film Stars and Studios
Himself
Payment Deferred
Charlie Hammond
Chances
Cuthbert (uncredited)
Honeymoon Beach
Billy Bevan
Mrs. Miniver
Bus Conductor (uncredited)
Forever and a Day
Wartime Cabby
Wandering Waistlines
Sandy Hook - Sailor
Cluny Brown
Uncle Arn Porritt
Astray from the Steerage
A steerage passenger
Devotion
Mr. Ames (uncredited)
Song and Dance Man
Curtis
Distilled Love
Scotch
Gilbert - Addie's Brother
Temptation
Sam
The Pearl of Death
Constable With Food Tray (uncredited)
Techno-Crazy
Mary's Father - the Mayor
Stingaree
Mac
The Beach Club
Hans Christian Andersen
Town Councilman (uncredited)
Piccadilly Jim
Taxi Driver
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Cabby (uncredited)
Caravan
Police Sergeant
Gertie's Gasoline Glide
The Minister
Rogues of Sherwood Forest
Will Scarlet
This Above All
Farmer
Be Reasonable
A Rolling Stone
The Trespasser
Reporter (uncredited)
I Married a Witch
Puritan Vendor (uncredited)
Tin Pan Alley
Stage Doorman
Giddap!
Gaspard De Brie
Captain Fury
Duffy
The Duck Hunter
The Sportsman
Gold Digger of Weepah
The Barber
Pack Up Your Troubles
British Sergeant
Looking Forward
Mr. Barker
Shock
Meadows
Blond Cheat
Bartender (uncredited)
Limehouse Blues
Herb
The Golf Nut
Billy Divott
The Invisible Man Returns
Jim (uncredited)
Love and Doughnuts
The Burglar
Masked Mamas
Casey McCorkle
The Cannon Ball Express
Adam Fargo - Baggage Master
Peacock Alley
Walter
Alice in Wonderland
Two of Spades (uncredited)
Tonight and Every Night
Cabbie (uncredited)
Mystery Woman
Jepson
The Extra Girl
Comedian
Cupid In Quarantine
The Father
The Invisible Man's Revenge
Police Sergeant (uncredited)
Musclebound Music
Billy Hornby
Inbad the Sailor
Jake aka Inbad the Sailor
Mysterious Mr. Moto
Customs Official
A Tale of Two Cities
Jerry Cruncher
Me and My Gal
Ashley, Arguing Drunk (uncredited)
Easy Pickings
The Detective
Penny Serenade
McDougal (uncredited)
One Cylinder Love
The Bachelor's Butler / Chauffeur / Footman
Three Secrets
Ed Jackson (uncredited)
Somebody's Widow
Secretary
Her Rustic Romeo
Uncle Jake
Uncle Jake
Fight Night
Walter Moore
Lloyd's of London
Innkeeper
Trimmed in Gold
Otto Stropp
The Bicycle Flirt
Doty Bassett - the Bicycle Flirt
A Small Town Princess
Joe Whiffet
Wall Street Blues
The Janitor
Let's Live a Little
Morton
The Man Who Wouldn't Die
Phillips
Hayfoot, Strawfoot?
Pete
Nip and Tuck
Sailor
One More River
Cloakroom Attendant
It Had to Be You
Evans
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
Man in Hotel Room
The Quack Doctor
The Hired Lady's Sweetheart
Married Life
Hospital Staff / Janitor (uncredited)
The Big Squeal
Jake Burke
Slave Ship
Atkins
A Study in Scarlet
Will Swallow
We Are Not Alone
Mr. Jones
Off His Trolley
The Traffic Cop
Pink Pajamas
Billy Brooks
The Secret Of St. Ives
Douglas (uncredited)
One Spooky Night
A.J. Bird Jr.
The Golden Age of Comedy
archive footage
Shining Victory
Chivers
Weak But Willing
George Downing
Confirm or Deny
Mr. Bindle
His New Stenographer
Billy Brooks
Wandering Willies
Percy Nudge
Bombs and Bandits
The Chief of Police
The Last Outpost
Private Foster
Tell It to the Judge
Winston, Kitty's Butler (uncredited)
Circus Today
Gus Barnum
Another Dawn
Pvt. Hawkins
Arrest Bulldog Drummond
Aquarium Guard
Peg o' My Heart
Detective #2 (uncredited)
The Widow from Monte Carlo
Officer Watkins
Black Sheep
Alfred
Vanessa: Her Love Story
Horse Auctioneer
His Unlucky Night
Billy Trotter
God's Country and the Woman
Plug Hat
From Rags to Britches
Joe Bush
The Wrong Road
McLean
The Sheik Steps Out
Munson
A Small Town Idol
Director
London Blackout Murders
Air Raid Warden
Who's Who in the Zoo
Father
Pirates of the Air
The Bartender
Love, Honor and Behave
A Fake Lawyer
Motorboat Mamas
Billy Bender
The White Sin
Travers Dale
Ice Cold Cocos
Gus Gander
The Hollywood Kid
Studio Organist
The Girl of the Golden West
Nick
Peaches and Plumbers
Bill the Plumber
Sneezing Beezers
Joe Honck - Taxi Driver
The Way to Love
M. Prial
Hubby's Weekend Trip
Bill Blake
Thundering Taxis
One of the Taxi Boys
Flirty Four-Flushers
Jerry Connors / Archibald De Shyster
Should Husbands Marry?
The Cop
Calling Hubby's Bluff
Billy Barton
The Crossroads of New York
Press Agent
Pop's Pal
Grandpa
Are Married Policemen Safe?
The Ed Sullivan Show
Self